AHL hooks on to NHL drug policy

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Gary R. Blockus,Of The Morning Call

Is that hockey player is on drugs?

Usually, the American Hockey League tries out some new innovation as the testing ground to see if the National Hockey league wants to adopt it, like the AHL will do with a new 7-minute overtime that drops the teams down to 3-on-3 after three minutes.

This time around, that process is a bit reversed.

On Thursday, the AHL and NHL announced that the AHL is adopting the NHL's education and drug testing program for the 2014-15 season.

The AHL, NHL, the NHL Players' Association, and the Professional Hockey Players' Association (which represents AHL players in collective bargaining) collaborated on the program, which a release by both leagues said essentially replicates the NHL program.

The AHL drug testing program will be run by doctors who already supervise the NHL/NHLPA Performance-Enhancing Substances Program and the Substance Abuse/Behavioral Health Program.